Bush, Blair sued under war crimes law

Belgium said Thursday that it had received lawsuits against President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair under a controversial war crimes law granting its courts universal jurisdiction.

But it had forwarded the cases, alleging violations of international law during the war in Iraq, to the defendants' home countries, greatly reducing their chances of ever coming to a court.

Britain immediately said it would discard the Belgian lawsuit and take no further action.

In Washington, a State Department official said that although the cases were referred to the U.S. judicial system, the Belgian law gives rise to legal complications.

Belgium has been harshly criticized, especially by the United States, for the law, which empowers its courts to try foreigners for serious war and human-rights crimes no matter where they were committed.